If you have food allergies or are serious about maintaining a vegetarian diet, it is important to know how to read food labels. The new food labeling laws will make this much easier as the 8 major food allergens will now be listed on packages. However, until all labels have made this transition, it will still be necessary to carefully read ingredients. Research your particular allergy and learn the chemical names by which it may appear on a label. For example, “sodium caseinate” is a milk derivative, and “hydrolyzed vegetable protein” is a form of MSG.
Vegetarians should be wary of products containing mono and diglycerides, glycerol, natural flavors and maltodextrins, all of which may be non-vegetarian. The only way to be sure if a product is truly vegetarian is to contact the manufacturer and ask if they source animal-derived ingredients. If you shop at Down To Earth you can rest assured that our products do not contain animal-sourced ingredients, but some do contain milk-derived products.
Also, be sure to read labels for information about calorie, fat, sugar, fiber, protein content etc. The new label laws will require trans fats to be listed as a subcategory of fats.
The most important thing is to become familiar with ingredients by consistently reading labels. You will begin to recognize common ingredients and when there is a questionable one, you can research it (which is fairly easy to do on the internet) to determine if it is safe.